1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for encasing elongated objects, and more specifically to encasing light strings for ease of storage and safe keeping.
2. Prior Art
Commonly, holiday light strings are typically inconvenient to store and are prone to tangling and breakage. As a result time is required to untangle the strings prior to re-use and often light strings are often not re-used and new ones are purchased instead of investing the time to sort out the previously used strings. Icicle style lights exacerbate the problem. The problem calls for a device that preserves light strings in storage without entangling them with a minimal time investment of perhaps only several seconds and offers a quick recovery of the lights from storage for re-use.
It is well known to have devices on which light strings may be wrapped or hanged. However, even a carefully wrapped set of lights has a tendency to tangle and break. There are some prior patents that describe encasing a light string or other elongated article that might have dangling components in a sheath that collapses around the article.
Pederson in U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,688 discloses cylinder within a box and a plastic tubing compressed on the cylinder with cylinder entry and exit ends opening at opposite sides of the box. Access to the cylinder is obtained by opening the box. Though apparently functional, the device is not handheld and restricts access to the plastic dispensing cylinder which slows replacement of the cylinder when plastic is exhausted from the cylinder during use.
Arnold et al. in U.S. Pat. Application No. 2007/0205209 discloses a compressed plastic over a cylindrical tube with a funnel into which a string of lights may be fed for encasing the lights within the plastic for storage. The device provides improved access but does not provide a handle and therefore a user must grasp the device over the plastic and the plastic is fully exposed and unprotected. It also requires reloading of plastic over the tube for each use.
Bennett et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,501 discloses cylinder over which a stretchable material is mounted. A wiring harness is fed through the cylinder and as it exits the cylinder the stretchable material is peeled off the cylinder and onto the wiring harness. The device also does not provide a protective handle for handheld use. The device also requires reloading of the material over the cylinder for each application over a wiring harness.
The object of the present invention then is to provide a feed tube adapted to receive a string of lights or generally an elongated object through a funnel at a feed tube entry end. It is a another object to provide a cartridge styled dispensing tube that removably mounts slidably on the feed tube from the feed tube exit end. It is a further object that the dispensing tube be adapted to receive a non-rigid material, typically a tubular plastic, compressed over the dispensing tube. It is a still further object that access to the feed tube exit end is open and unrestricted such that unimpaired access facilitates quick and easy installation and replacement of a dispensing tube. It is yet another object to provide a handle that protects the dispensing tube and the non-rigid material thereon. It is a yet further object that the handle supports the feed and dispensing tubes without contacting and thereby interfering with the non-rigid material on the dispensing tube. It is still another a object that a user have unrestricted access to the dispensing tube during dispensing of the non-rigid material. It is final object that the device be handheld so it can be conveniently used immediately at a holiday tree as light strings are removed from the tree.